The Blue Line Job
by Mira Spiegel
Summary: A hard working cop trying to raise her two orphaned nieces asks Nathan Ford and crew for help with loan sharks but what she gets is so much more.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Well, I've been sucked into another show with fantastic characters (blame it on the inhumanly long hiatus of V) so I thought I would try my hand at playing with the characters of Leverage. It's turning out to be much more fun that I thought. I'm attempting at trying to write this as a novelized episode but if I have to deviate into more of a novel, I'll do so. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage and am not making money off of this story.

**Leverage: **

**The Blue Line Job**

Chapter One: Wolves in the World

_Fitchburg, Massachusetts_

Joella Wyatt hadn't even gotten out of bed before the chaos started. She laid there motionless for a few seconds, hoping her two nieces would somehow work out the use of the one bathroom she had in her house, while her mother sang _Peace in the Valley_ at the top of her lungs from the kitchen. Well, Elvis may have known there was peace in the valley but there hadn't been peace in Joella's home in a long time.

"Aunt Jo!"

Before her feet hit the floor, Jo's door flew open and in stalked her youngest niece, fourteen year old Meg. "What is it?"

"Amber won't let me in the bathroom and we have to leave for school in five minutes and-"

"Use mine then," Jo pointed in the general direction of the bathroom and heard the door slam. And so begins the day. She found her flip flops in the corner of the small bedroom and shuffled her way down the hallway, knocking on the hallway bathroom door along the way. "Amber, five minutes and I'm coming in after you." She didn't pause long enough to hear the seventeen year old's response.

"Those girls are getting to be a handful, aren't they?" her mother asked.

Jo poured herself a cup of coffee. "Getting to be? They've been a handful since they could walk." Jo always had a soft spot for her nieces and still did but three years of trying to single handedly raise two teenage girls who lost their parents was harder than she imagined. "At least the nightmares stopped for them."

Her mother set a bagel down in front of her. "The girl's lunch is already packed and I went over their homework with them last night."

Okay, so maybe she wasn't singlehandedly raising the girls. "Thanks, Mom." Jo stood up to open the living room blinds but her mother stopped.

"Wait until the girls leave before you do that."

The fuzz of sleep was driven from her brain as red fury replaced. "Again?"

Her mother sipped her coffee with a resigned air and Jo slumped back down into the chair.

"Unbelievable. They keep asking for money but how can they expect me to pay them when I have to constantly replace my front window?"

Her mother opened her mouth but quickly shut it as Amber and Meg came into the kitchen. Amber picked up her bag and looked at the closed blinds with a grimace. "Again?"

Jo nodded her head solemnly.

Amber huffed. "Guess I can kiss equestrian camp goodbye this summer."

"Now, now," Jo's mom got up from the table. "The only thing we're kissing goodbye this morning is you two. Off to school, both of you."

Jo gave the girls a hug, slipping fifteen dollars to Amber as she did so.

"Grandma packed our lunches?"

Jo nodded. "Share with your sister."

Amber nodded and both girls left the house for school. Jo turned back to her coffee and waited for her mother to start in how she needed help with the loan sharks. But it didn't happen as Amber came back into the kitchen, looking pale faced and serious.

"Aunt Jo?"

"Yeah?"

"They got your car this time."

Jo jumped up and ran outside. Sure enough, her little red Focus was in shambles. All four tires had been slashed, the windows and windshield were shattered and the tail lights were broken. But what disturbed her more was seeing tears in Meg's eyes as she too surveyed the damage.

"It's all our fault, isn't it, Aunt Jo?"

Jo put her arms around Meg. "No, it's not your fault at all."

"It's Dad's fault," Amber answered bitterly.

"It's not your Dad's fault either," Jo answered. "There's just bad people in this world. It'll be fine, girls. Go off to school." Jo watched as both girls, one angry and one tearful, got into their thankfully untouched car and left for the local high school. She felt her mother come up to her side and a rock with a note tied to it was handed to her. Jo took the rock from her mother and opened the crumbled note.

_Pay your debts. _

Jo wanted to find the person who wrote it and shove the note down their throat. She wanted them to know it wasn't her debt to pay, not anymore.

Her mother cleared her throat. "Have you called those people yet?"

Jo shoved the note into her pocket. Her mother had handed her a business card a few days ago for a company in Boston that helped people in her situation. She threw it out only to find a couple dozen more stuck all over her house. Perhaps it was time to call them since the loan sharks were upping their level of destruction.

"No, Mom, not yet. But I think I'm going to do that now."

"Good. I'll get Mr. Dodge's business card."

Jo stared at what was left of her car and as she walked back into the house, the shattered front window was hard to miss too. A strange thought struck her as she re-entered the house and shouted to her mother.

"I thought his name was Ford."

_

* * *

McRory's Bar, Boston, Massachusetts_

Nathan Ford stared across the table at the two women from Fitchburg. It was very obvious that they were related by their facial structure but the similarities stopped there. The mother carried a few more pounds than her daughter and her auburn hair was cut short and graying. The daughter had longer hair, no gray, and was physically fit, which wasn't surprising when he heard she was a police officer. Both had the same weary expression of fighting a broken system. He had seen it too many times before today.

"So," he started, "let me get this straight. Ryan, who was your son" he pointed the mother, "and your brother," he pointed to the daughter, "was killed in an automobile accident along with his wife. There was another family who lost their eighteen year old son but it was Ryan who was the drunk driver and was responsible for the accident."

Jo, the daughter, nodded her head slowly.

"All the money that you received from the life insurance company went to pay off the law suit the other family filed against you."

"Yes."

Nathan sat back. "Okay. What's the rest of the story?"

Jo shifted. "After the family was paid their money and Ryan's two girls moved in with me, the loan sharks started coming around. Apparently, Ryan had racked up various gambling debts and owed $25,000. I had no more money to pay them so I took out a second mortgage on my home and paid that off. Now, they're saying I owe another $15,000 in interest and all my assets are gone. I've been working overtime when I'm allowed at the precinct but even that isn't cutting it now."

Nathan nodded. "And that's were the broken windows and busted up car come into the picture."

"Exactly."

Nathan started running scenarios in his mind of how to get this woman's money back for her but there was one problem. "Do you know who the loan shark is?"

Jo frowned. "No. I send the payments to a PO box the next town over. I've tried doing a stake out myself but I work so much and every time I go, no one picks up the mail that day."

Nathan filed that bit of information away for further thought. "I'm going to have to talk to my team about this case. It's going to be a two part job. The first half, we'll have to locate the loan shark himself and then the second part is to find a way to con him and get your money back."

Jo's cheek twitched. "How much is that going to cost?"

"For you, nothing. We don't get paid unless you get paid. We work our expenses into the con amount. It sounds like you've paid enough already though. I have your cell and I'll call you tomorrow."

Jo extended her hand and Nathan took it. "Thank you, Mr. Ford."

"Oh, I haven't done anything yet."

"You've listened. That's more than anyone has done so far."

"Hopefully, we'll be able to do much more than that." He watched the two women walk out of the bar and when they drove off, he started for the elevator. "Did you all get that?"

"Yup," Hardison's voice rang in his ear as if the hacker were standing right next to him. "Think it's legit?"

Nathan punched the elevator's button for the top floor. "If you could have seen their faces you would know it was legit. Did you find the background information on them?"

"Calling it up now."

"Are you sure we want to get involved with a cop case?" Eliot countered. "I mean, we're all technically criminals."

"She knows that." The doors of the elevator opened and Nathan removed his ear bud. "She needs help and the police are the problem for her. She's trustworthy enough for a client. So, Hardison, what did you find?"

Hardison pointed the remote to the TV screens and files blossomed across the screens. A picture of Jo Wyatt in uniform drew his attention more than any of the files. Unlike most serious photos that are the equivalent of cop mug shots, Jo had a slight cheeky smile and glint of mischief in almost translucent green eyes. The woman who just sat in front of him had lost every ounce of fight she had in her. The words of a young girl in a hospital room echoed through his mind.

_There are wolves in this world. _Nathan shook his head. Those wolves feed on the spirits of good people but that was why his team was formed, to starve the wolves.

"Officer Joella Nell Wyatt," Hardison began, "veteran of the Fitchburg PD for the last twelve years. Pretty amazing since she just turned thirty-two. She has the best record in the department. She brought in the most perpetrators that were then convicted. 97% of her arrests are still in prison. Until..."

"The new police chief took over," Nathan finished.

"Bingo." Hardison brought up a picture of a slightly overweight police officer. "Chief Reilly. No sooner did Reilly enter the position as Chief and Wyatt's career started going south. Convictions were being overturned, arrests were nulled and she was reprimanded twice for not filling out the correct paperwork."

"So why didn't she file a complaint with her union rep?" Sophie asked.

"She needs her job." Nathan answered.

Hardison produced two school photos of teenage girls. "Enter Wyatt's nieces. Amber and Meghan Wyatt, seventeen and fourteen respectively. Their father was driving home from a New Year's Eve party with his wife while under the influence. He crossed the center lane and hit a car head on, instantly killing the other driver, as well as himself and his wife. The life insurance money," official paperwork scans replaced the pictures of the three victims, "went to pay off a law suit that the other family filed against Joella since she inherited the estate."

"But what she also inherited," Nathan continued, "was $25,000 worth of gambling debts with the added interest of $15,000."

"I found the second mortgage she took out on her house. Her mother is living off of social security, if you can call it living. All four women reside in a three bedroom rancher in Fitchburg."

"Any luck in finding out who the loan sharks are?"

"No, man, but I might be able to find out more information by talking to Wyatt and scoping out that post office."

Nathan nodded. "I think I'll have Parker watch the post office the next time Wyatt sends a payment."

Parker huffed. "There's no stealing in this con."

"Sure there is," Nathan smiled. "I need you to lift the wallet of the guy who picks up the mail. Hardison, I want you to review all the complaints that were filed against Wyatt. See if there's anyone on the force that has a grudge against her or her brother." Nathan looked at the screens again, studying each paper and picture that was displayed but still getting the feeling that there were missing pieces. "We're going to have to send her partner away for a couple weeks and replace him so we can gather more information before planning the actual con. Sophie will deliver the good news and Eliot, you'll be Wyatt's rookie partner."

Nathan turned around and faced his team. None of them looked mutinous, except for Eliot but that was most likely due to the "rookie" comment. "Hardison, make arrangements for us to stay in Fitchburg. We'll leave in the morning."


	2. Vacation Giveaways

**Author's Note: **I don't even know what to say...I have never, _never, _had a response to a first chapter like I did with this story! You all just blew me away! And now that the pressure is on, I hope I continue to please all. Thank you so much for your kind words and alerts.

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Two: Vacation Giveaway **

_Wachusett Village Inn, Fitchburg, MA_

Nathan was used to staying in nice hotels during jobs but Hardison had gone above and beyond when he booked a sprawling Inn that was part hotel and part bed and breakfast. It hosted weddings mostly which meant lots of cover by out of town guests but the on site restaurant and elaborate gardens were much more than the normal Hyatts and Hiltons that they called temporary homes. Sophie, however, looked pleased with the lodging choice but everyone else was just as surprised as he was at the layout.

"And why are we staying here, Hardison?"

The hacker tugged on his messengers cap. "Fitchburg isn't all that big of a town so I figured there would be a lot of eyes watching Jo come and go from wherever we were staying. Since this is going to be information gathering at first, we're gonna have to meet with Jo. And this place doesn't have security cameras to catch her visits and it has a back door." He pointed towards a breezeway that connected the rooms to the entrance of the Inn. "All other hotels were in the downtown and we would stand out among the locals."

"Well, I think it's charming," Sophie replied.

"Too much open space," Parker countered.

"See," Hardison spoke up, "most people would like the open space."

"I like the open space," Eliot added.

"Let's check in and set up," Nathan interrupted before an argument started. Parker was already on edge about their client being a cop. And thinking of their client..."Jo is going to be here within an hour before starting her shift tonight." With the order given, everyone quieted and started hauling in suitcases and equipment. No sooner did Hardison turn on his laptop and connect to the internet an hour later, than there was a knock at their suite door. Nathan opened the door and let a uniformed Jo into the room.

"Everyone, this Officer Jo Wyatt," Nathan announced. He motioned towards his right. "This is Sophie, Hardison, Eliot and...where's Parker?"

"She's a cop!" Parker's disembodied voice echoed around the room.

"I asked you all for your help," Jo spoke up. "There's no way you're going to be arrested by me."

"Come on, Parker," Eliot shouted. "You knew she was a cop."

The bathroom door opened and Parker peeked out. "It's different seeing her in uniform. She looks too...cop-y."

"Cop-y?" Hardison repeated. "That's not even a word, Parker."

"I just said it, didn't I?" the blonde countered.

Hardison opened his mouth but Eliot cut him off.

"Let it go, man."

"Parker," Nathan spoke up. "Are you going to join us?"

She huffed but perched on the arm of the couch.

"Wonderful," Nathan turned back to Jo. "There's my team."

Jo smiled. "Excellent. What's the plan and what do you need me to do?"

"First," Hardison jumped in, "we're going to send your partner on a two week vacation."

"Kyle only has eight days of vacation saved up though."

Hardison smiled. "I was able to hack into your PD database. All I need is Kyle's last name and he's got fourteen days of vacation coming his way. And by the way, you have five sick days added onto your payroll too in case we need you out of the way during the con."

"Greatly appreciated, thank you. Kyle's last name is Swanson. He has a wife and two kids, not sure if that's going to put a cramp on the vacation planning."

"No cramps whatsoever." Nathan answered.

"Any particular place he wanted to go?" Hardison asked.

"He always wanted to take his kids to Disney World. He's been saving up for over a year. And, if you could, add in a pass to SeaWorld?"

"Disney World and SeaWorld it is," Hardison made the arrangements immediately.

"Sophie will come in later on today and give Kyle the good news." Nathan explained. "Tomorrow, Eliot will show up as a rookie on probation but his original precinct doesn't have an available senior officer for him to partner with for another two weeks."

Jo frowned. "Chief Reilly is going to call whatever precinct you tell him to make sure this isn't a set up."

"And that call will get forwarded to my cell phone," Nathan held up his blackberry. "While you show Eliot around town and we get to listen in on your conversations for information gathering, Parker will pay the post office a visit to see who picks up the mail. Once we have some more information and a lay of the land, we'll be able to plan the con."

Jo nodded. "So I'll just carry on as normal?"

Nathan smiled. "And let us do our job."

* * *

Sophie walked into the police department building in Fitchburg around 3 that afternoon. Eliot had been following Jo and her partner for a couple hours. He had just informed her that Jo and Kyle had returned to the precinct to drop off one of the town drunks. There wouldn't be any paperwork as they just let him sober up in the drunk tank and release him so she was limited in time. The receptionist looked about eighteen and was very bored so Sophie plastered on the widest smile she could and raised her voice a few notches.

"Hi, Honey. I was wondering if an Officer Kyle Swanson was working today?"

The girl look up at her and continued to chew on her gum. "Uh-"

"Can I help you?"

Sophie was surprised to see Jo standing in front of her. If Parker thought she looked "cop-y" back at the Inn, she should have seen Jo now. Still in uniform but Jo's attitude had done a 180 degree turn. She was quiet, eerily calm, not a hint of a smile and her right hand was resting on her gun. Sophie would have to make sure to tell Nathan that Jo could definitely handle being part of this job.

"I was just looking for an Officer Swanson," Sophie began her spiel again. "I'm from Apple Vacations and just came to deliver some good news to Mr. Swanson."

"Can I see your ID, please?"

Sophie handed Jo the laminated Apple Vacations ID Hardison had made up for her that morning. Jo gave it a thorough look and handed it back to her.

"This way." Jo weaved her way through cubicles and desks until she stopped by one where a tall, lanky blond man was sitting and talking on the phone. "Kyle?"

He covered the receiver with one hand and looked from Jo to Sophie. "What?"

Jo actually smiled, a genuine one. "This lady has some good news for you."

He spoke into the phone, "Honey, can I call you back? Okay, love you too. Bye." He returned the phone to it's cradle and turned towards Sophie. "So what's the good news? I won the lottery?"

Sophie laughed. "Kind of, darling. We're going to be opening a new office for Apple Vacations here in Fitchburg and as our way of saying 'thanks' we drew names from Fitchburg's finest for a two week vacation to Disney World. Your name was the one we drew!"

Sophie loved watching the surprise and ultimately the joy that spread across people's faces when good news came to those who deserved it. But a tinge of worry came across his face.

"I don't have two weeks of vacation available."

Jo starting typing on her computer. "Actually, you do."

"What?"

"Says so right here," she swung the monitor around to show Kyle his vacation and sick day bank.

"So," Kyle turned back to Sophie, "when do I leave?"

Sophie laid down his plane tickets and passes on the desk. "Your flight leaves tomorrow. There's four tickets and four passes to Disney World. And," Sophie produced four more passes, "look what I just found. Four one day passes to SeaWorld."

Kyle took the SeaWorld passes and actually teared up. "My wife will love these. She, uh..." he cleared his throat and Jo jumped in.

"She was a marine biologist until she was diagnosed with lupus."

"That's why she asked for the SeaWorld passes," Hardison's voice crackled in Sophie's ear. "If I had known that I would have given them week long passes."

"Can you do that?" Sophie asked as quietly as she could.

Hardison sputtered. "Can I do...Can _I _do that? I hacked into the White House database and you have the nerve to ask me if I can get a week pass to Sea World? I have never been so hurt in my life."

"Well," Sophie started, more in an effort to drown out Hardison. "Since that's the case, maybe I can work out something for a longer stay at Sea World for you and your wife."

"This..." Kyle started. "This is just..." He stood up and grabbed Sophie, hugging her tightly. "Thank you so much."

"Well," Jo stood up from her side of the desk. "I'll go tell the chief I'm down a partner for the next two weeks."

Sophie watched Jo make her way across the rest of the floor and knock on Chief Reilly's door. Before she entered into the office though, she looked over her shoulder and gave Sophie a large smile, mouthing the words "Thanks" before shutting the door behind her.

"Can I do that..." Hardison was muttering. "Cut me to the bone, woman."

* * *

Jo was told that Eliot would be tailing her and Kyle that day to see what would be entailed in police work but she didn't see him until she ended her shift in the predawn hours. He was sitting in her niece's car under a broken streetlight and she wouldn't have recognized him if Nathan hadn't told her Eliot would be there. It wouldn't be too hard explain why she was being picked up after work since her car had become a casualty that morning. A quick glance around the area showed there were no signs of life around as she quickly slid into the passenger's seat.

"So," she started, "was your day as exciting as mine?"

He cracked a brief smile as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Not as exciting as Kyle's. I didn't realize there would be so many calls in such a small town. What's your most common?"

"Domestic disturbances and public drunkenness are the major ones. Have, uh, have you ever posed as an officer before?"

"A couple times. FBI and detectives mostly but never for two weeks."

Jo shifted uncomfortably but couldn't tell if it was from what he just told her or from the ease at which he was navigating the Fitchburg streets to her home. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea anymore.

"Hey," he broke into her thoughts, "you tell me what to do and I'll do it. Tell me the inside track and I can adapt my character to whatever is going to let me blend in with everyone in the precinct."

Jo studied Eliot's profile for a few minutes. Nathan had described Eliot's job as the "hitter," the one in charge of protection and fighting when it came down to it. He was the best choice to fill an officer role and had the stamina and training to pull it off. But in order to help people like herself, he had to have a heart under that tough guy exterior. "The guys in the precinct are macho, chauvinistic blockheads. All the things you hear about cops who hang out at the local coffee joint and hit on anything with a skirt, it's true in this department."

"All the cops are that way?"

"No, not all. Kyle is a stand up guy and there are a few others."

"Like you?"

"I try to be a good cop." Jo sighed tiredly.

"It's tough when you see the ones that break the rules succeed though."

"It does wear on you."

He pulled into her driveway and turned the car off. "Well, that's about to change."

"Hardison is sending me to Disney World too?"

He actually laughed slightly.

"How are you getting back to the Inn?" Jo asked.

No sooner did the words leave her mouth than a dark sedan pulled up at the end of her driveway. Eliot handed her the keys to the car, quickly made his way to the waiting car and was gone in a matter of seconds. Jo stood there a few minutes, watching the sun start to peek over the horizon. It was a new day that was going to bring new allies into her life. A flicker of hope had been ignited and she had make sure that the last few years of dead ends and frustrations didn't smother that spark.


	3. First Day on the Job

**Author's Note: **Another huge thank you goes out to all my readers! You guys are just blowing me away with your reviews and alerts. I also wanted to make a disclaimer back in the first chapter and I forgot about it. I hope no one thinks that I'm anti-police or think that departments are filled with corrupt and second-rate cops. I know there's some out there (I'm not naïve) but I do have a huge amount of respect for our men and women in blue. I choose Fitchburg because I've been there, not because I think their police force is bad. So with that said, onto to chapter three...

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Three: First Day on the Job**

The post office was located in another small town 20 minutes west of Fitchburg, which was where Hardison and Parker were at the moment. Nate had told them that Jo had sent a payment that hadn't been deposited yet which meant there was a chance it was still in the Gardner post office. The first three hours of the stakeout hadn't been bad but Parker was getting restless and it was starting to wear on Hardison nerves.

"Parker, why don't you go walk up and down the street?"

She fidgeted in the van chair. "I might miss the pick up."

"Then at least cut back on the coffee. That's what, your fifth cup?"

"Seventh, actually," she corrected.

"Seventh, nice." Hardison looked back at the monitors that were showing him people walking in front of the post office. "You just better hope that I can catch your heart when it blows out of your chest if you keep drinking it."

"Oh please," Parker tossed the empty coffee cup in the corner with the others. "I switched to decaf five cups ago."

Hardison opened his mouth to comment on how that made him feel slightly better when Parker pointed to one of the monitors.

"That's him!" she exclaimed and was gone.

Hardison watched the monitors and saw Parker appear on the screen. He zoomed in to the post office lobby and tried running a facial scan on the only other person in there but the glass was making it too hard for the program. Parker stepped into the lobby and milled around, looking at posters.

"Parker, the PO Box is 1427."

"That's the one he's at," she whispered back.

Hardison heard her open and close the out going mail box as if she was mailing a letter and then bumped into the guy at the door as he was leaving. Hardison snapped a shot of the guy as he set off at a good clip down the street. He ran the facial recognition program again and got a match just as Parker returned to the van.

"Got his wallet!"

The computer dinged. "And I got a hit on the facial recognition program."

Parker pulled out the driver's license. "We are looking for a Mr. Calvin Metzger."

Hardison pulled up the file on the computer and frowned. "That's not what the computer came up with. The hit came back for a Jake Henderson."

"So which one is real?"

Hardison started shutting down his equipment so they could head back to the Inn. "Nate isn't going to like this."

* * *

Eliot knew he wasn't a tall man but when Jo was called into the office and stood next to him, the height difference was almost comical. The top of her head reached his nose which put her at about 5'2" but the way she moved seemed to add a couple inches to her stature. The couple times she had been around the team, she had been relaxed. Now, she reminded him of a coiled spring, tense and ready to defend herself at any given moment.

"Officer Wyatt," Reilly said, "this is Officer Turner. He was suppose to do his probation period with the Boston PD but they won't have a senior officer to take him on for another two weeks so they shipped him out here. Think you can handle showing him the ropes?"

Jo smiled but her facial muscles were tense. "It's better than spending two weeks at a desk until Swanson comes back."

"Don't be a hero, Wyatt. Just show him basic things. Leave the real training to Boston PD."

"Yes, sir."

Eliot jammed his hands into his jacket to hide the fact his fists were clenched. He had personally gone over Jo's police record and knew what kind of a cop she was: honest, hard working and one of the most successful arrest records in Massachusetts. He bit his tongue to keep from telling Chief Reilly that Jo could train the Boston PD herself. He followed her out into the maze of cubicles and desks and watched as she opened desk drawers, dumping walkie-talkies, a badge, gun and a box of ammo in front of him.

"I assume you know how to handle a gun," she asked quietly.

"Yeah but it's not my weapon of choice."

She set down a Glock 27 in front of him along with a box of ammo. "I don't care if you use it or if you even load it, but you do have to carry it."

Eliot slide out the cartridge, saw it was empty and double checked the chamber which was also empty. He switched on the safety just in case before holstering the gun. "Is this your personal gun?"

"Yup," she clipped her radio to her shirt and straightened her badge. "I normally carry a Bersa Thunder though. It's more compact-"

"Less of a kick back and lighter to carry. Ammo is smaller too but packs the same punch."

She raised an eyebrow slightly. "Impressive. Here's your radio, we're on channel 5."

He followed her example and clipped the radio near his left shoulder and holstered the gun. She handed him his own clipboard, loaded with forms, and tucked her hat under her arm.

"Ready to hit the streets?"

"You tell me."

She gave him a cursory glance over and nodded. "Hardison did a great job."

Eliot didn't respond, figuring Hardison was listening in on the conversation and wanting to just annoy the hacker by being silent. Jo headed out of the building and towards the line of police cars, unlocking the one with the number 8 painted on the side. She slid behind the wheel, tucked her clipboard between the front seats and started the car. Eliot got into the passenger's seat and looked around at all the equipment. Hardison would have a field day with all the scanners, monitors and flashing lights.

"What's the matter," Jo asked. "You've never been inside a cop car before?"

"Not up front, no."

"Any questions before we head out?"

He shrugged. "I tend to learn as I go."

"Fair enough." She put the car in reverse and soon they were heading out to patrol the streets of Fitchburg. They didn't make it a block before the first call came in over the radio.

"We have a 51 in progress on Waverly."

"10-51, Unit 8," Jo responded.

"10-4, Unit 8."

Jo flipped on the lights and siren and hit the gas. "A 51 is code for trespassing and 10-51 means I'm en route. I've been out here before on Waverly."

"What's the deal?"

She shook her head. "Ex-husband keeps coming around despite restraining orders. The wife calls it in as a trespassing violation and that's how we treat it because he's usually out of his mind drunk."

"Charming."

"Hence the 'ex' part of 'ex-husband.' He's pretty docile, just emotional so you can do your rookie thing and stand back and watch me work."

He didn't like the idea of that too much but realized the role he was playing required him to be less hands on than he was used to being. They arrived at a large home that had been split up into two row homes. A young woman was standing on the porch, throwing flowers from a bouquet at the disheveled man at the foot of the stairs. Jo gave Eliot a sad smile before parking the car and getting out.

"Simon," she called. "Simon, what's going on?"

"Eliot, you there?"

Eliot jumped slightly, completely forgetting Hardison had the ear buds on and was listening to him. "Where else would I be? What?"

"When Jo finishes with the sad sack Simon, you need to ask her if she knows a Calvin Metzger or a Jake Henderson."

"Two guys picked up the mail?"

"Kind of," Parker added.

"Yeah," Eliot watched as Jo put her arm around Simon and started leading him back to the car. "Not following, Parker."

"Well, his wallet had a ID in it which said Calvin Metzger but-" Parker started.

"When I ran the facial recognition scan, he came up as Jake Henderson."

Eliot nodded. "Fake ID, then. Was there a rap sheet on either one?"

"No," Hardison answered. "The guy's squeaky clean. Too squeaky, if you ask me."

"Alright, I'll run those names by her."

Jo put Simon in the back seat and returned behind the driver's wheel. "We'll drop him off a couple blocks up the way here."

"You don't take him to the station?"

"Only if Julie tells me to." Jo waved at the flower throwing woman on the porch. "Simon's sister lives around here and on days when Julie is feeling kind, she tells me to drop him off at his sisters to sober up. Simon's a nice guy, he's just..." she looked over her shoulder at the now passed out man. "Down on his luck."

Eliot knew how that went. They rode in silence until Jo pulled up to another row home and was greeted by a tired looking woman. He helped Simon out of the back seat of the car and into the spare bedroom of the house. They waved good bye to Simon's sister and Jo turned towards her radio.

"Dispatch, the 51 is a 10-98."

"10-4," came immediately back.

"Hardison came up with a coupleof names and wants to know if any stick out to you."

Jo pulled away from the curb. "Okay."

"Calvin Metzger."

Jo shook her head. "Not ringing any bells."

"How about a Jake Henderson?"

She stopped at a stop sign and drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. "Now that rings a bell."

* * *

"Jake Henderson," Hardison called up the driver's license photo from the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles on the TV in the hotel room. "Kid is nineteen, high school drop out and all around moocher. He lives with his mom and stepfather and as far as I can tell, stays in their basement playing video games all day."

"Unless he's running pick up trips to the Gardner post office," Nathan added.

"This is the loan shark?" Sophie asked incredulously. "A nineteen year old drop out?"

"A nineteen year old drop out who just bought," Hardison clicked a button and a 2010 Ford Charger appeared on the screen, "a new car with cash."

Nathan shook his head. "He's not the loan shark, though. He's only working for the guy we want."

"So we tail him for a few days," Sophie asked, "and see who he goes to with Jo's payment?"

"Possibly. Hardison, did you find any connections between this kid and Jo?"

"You bet your bottom dollar I did. Pow!"

A new picture appeared on the screen and Nathan frowned. "That's Chief Reilly."

Hardison nodded. "I would like you all to meet Jake Henderson's stepfather."

"I like it," Eliot spoke up. "I needed a good reason to break that bastard's nose."

Nathan studied the picture of Reilly. " We have to confirm that Reilly is the loan shark. Who did Jo say she makes the check out to?"

"She doesn't. She leaves that line blank and her bank doesn't post scans of the checks."

"So the only copy of that check is sitting in the vault of Boston First National," Nathan concluded. "Parker, I'm going to need you to get into that bank and find the voided check of Jo's. Hardison, keep listening in to conversations and see if Jo can't give you some more info. Sophie and I will keep an eye on Junior here and see if he makes his way anywhere in the next couple days. If he doesn't, then we can be fairly certain Reilly is the shark. And Eliot, don't break any noses yet."


	4. More Missing Pieces

**Leverage:**

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Four: More Missing Pieces**

The next morning, Nathan got up to find his team up and working already. Well, everyone minus Eliot who had to report to his second day on the job but not before planting a camera in front of Reilly's home. Parker was perched on the arm of the couch by Hardison, munching on cereal and reading over his shoulder. Sophie was sipping coffee and lost in thought but he knew she was running different characters through her mind for the next part of the con. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down across from her.

"Any ideas?"

She made a slight grimace. "We need more information on Reilly. Convincing him his money isn't safe wherever he's stashing it might not work in such a small town as this. He probably knows the bank manager and the board. For all we know, they could be on his payroll."

"That's possible. We could always show up needing a loan and when we make the first payment use marked bills that Hardison can follow. We can gain access to the account that way."

"But what if he's running multiple accounts?" Sophie countered.

"Then that's a problem."

"Yeah," Hardison spoke up, "I may have found a couple other problems too. I can't find anything on Jo's brother. According to police records, bank records, even his job evaluations, this man was clean."

"Completely?" Nathan asked.

"A couple speeding tickets and 'show more enthusiasm at work' from his work evaluation, that's all the negative stuff I can find. Not one thing in here says he had a gambling or drinking problem."

Nathan frowned. "No public drunkenness charges or DUI's?"

Hardison shook his head. "Not a one."

"Is Eliot with Jo right now?"

Sophie looked at her watch. "He left about ten minutes ago to pick her up, so not yet. What are you thinking?"

"I think I may let Jo do her job today and pay a visit to her mother."

Sophie nodded. "Her mother is likely to know more about the situation than Jo does. We've seen the hours she keeps. I can't imagine she would have been aware of what her brother was up to all the time. Besides, we shouldn't give her hope unless we have the facts to back it up. She seems almost at the breaking point as it is."

Nathan had to admit, he felt the same way about Jo when he had met her. She was on the last reserves of hope and running on fumes of energy. Her mother was in a similar state of mind but had a handful more hope than Jo. Nathan had a long talk with Eliot before sending the hitter into the police station. He reminded Eliot to blend into the background as best as possible, to stay out of Jo's way until he knew how to best offer his help to her. He knew the talk wasn't necessary, not when he was pairing a good cop with Eliot, but it drove the point home nonetheless.

"Well," Nathan stood up from the table, "Sophie, do you feel like taking a ride out to see Jo's mother with me?"

Hardison raised a hand. "Before you do that, you might want to hear this too."

Nathan turned back to the TV and watched as a photo of a young man appeared on the screen. He looked vaguely familiar but Nathan couldn't place him at the moment.

"This is Brian Gregory," Hardison started. "This is the eighteen year old football star that was supposedly killed in the car accident with Jo's brother."

Nathan almost did a double take. "Wait, supposedly?"

"Just on a hunch, I double checked the Gregory's bank account to see what the settlement money went towards." Hardison called up a cancelled check scan on the screen. "Now you tell me, why would a dead football star need a college degree at UCLA?"

"He wouldn't!" Parker exclaimed triumphantly. "Cause he's dead, right?"

"Almost got it, Parker." Nathan grinned at the thief and turned towards Sophie. "Let's still visit Jo's mother and when we get back we'll give the Gregory's a call and see what we can't find out from them."

Sophie raised her eyebrows. "We're going to call them?"

"No, not us exactly but Margie from UCLA's tuition office will."

"Ah," Sophie smiled and picked up her purse.

As Nathan was leaving he heard Parker from the couch, "Do you know this Margie Nate's talking about?"

"What do you mean do I know? Don't you know...," Hardison made a disgusted noise. "Don't you have to get ready for the bank?"

* * *

Jo was not ready for another day of work. She had been up half the night arguing with Amber over her new boyfriend and some less than clean texts she had found on her niece's phone. Jo had looked up Jeremy Voight as soon as Amber asked if she could go to the movies with him. The kid was a year older than Amber with a rap sheet of two misdemeanors. She tried to discourage the dating but didn't want to put her foot down too hard in case Amber decided to run off with the boy. Amber was a lot like Jo when she was seventeen and that made Jo shudder at times like these. Then she found the texts on Amber's phone that had been laying out on the kitchen table dinging last night at eleven o'clock.

A bedroom door slammed and Amber stalked out into the kitchen stormy faced. "I was suppose to go shopping with my friends today for graduation dresses."

Jo took a deep breath and a sip of coffee before responding. "You should of thought about that before you sent those texts to Jeremy."

Amber rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm sending naked pictures of myself to him."

"God help you if I ever find out you've done that."

"Are the pictures or the words sexting?" Jo's mother chimed in.

"Pictures," Amber answered. "Which, I didn't do."

Jo put her coffee cup down with a bang. "Actually, words and pictures are considered sexting. Thank you for asking, Mom. By the way, how old is Jeremy?"

"No way," Amber shook her head. "You can't file charges against him."

"If this ever happens again," Jo picked up Amber's cell phone, "you better believe I'll press charges."

Amber emitted a sound that was a cross between a growl and a scream. "I hate it that you're a cop!"

Jo buried her nose in her coffee cup. She didn't want Amber and her mother to know, she felt exactly the same way. She wasn't sure if it was her job or just her life that she was tired of at the moment. It didn't change the fact that she was tired. A knock at the door interrupted the family quarrel and Jo went to answer the door. Eliot stood there, hands in his pockets and looking a little sheepish.

"I didn't mean to interrupt but your neighbors were starting to stare at me."

Jo poked her head out of the door and saw the elderly woman that lived to the right of her staring Eliot down with a scowl. Jo waved at her as Eliot slipped past into the house. By the time she went back inside, her mother was already handing him a cup of coffee.

"Mrs. Fennigen thinks she's the neighborhood crime watch."

"He's in a cop uniform, Grandma," Amber chimed in.

Jo's mother pointed towards Eliot's head. "It's the ponytail." Then she extended her hand. "I'm Susan Wyatt."

"Eliot Turner."

Jo was thankful he kept his regular name. Trying to keep a bunch of different names straight would be next to impossible for her now.

"So, Aunt Jo?"

Jo put her hands on her hips and faced off with her niece. "So what?"

"Can I go to the mall with my friends today to look for graduation dresses?"

"No, you can not."

"What am I suppose to do? Grandma?"

"I'm talking to Mr. Turner, dear."

"Amber," Jo picked up her keys and clipped them to her belt. "I'll take you myself to pick out dresses next weekend."

"That sounds like fun," Amber grumbled as she left the kitchen.

"The nicer teenager is still asleep."

"Mom!"

"Well," Susan shrugged, "it's true."

Jo rubbed her forehead tiredly. "I gotta go to work, Mom. Can you handle them?"

"I handled you and Rob, didn't I?"

Eliot placed the mug back down on the counter. "Thank you, Susan."

"You know, since summer is almost upon us-"

"Mom." Jo gave her mother a warning look but it was going completely unheeded.

"We always grill out on Sundays. Why don't you stop over after your shift? Tell Mr. Dodge and your friends to come too."

Eliot gave Jo a confused look. "Dodge?"

"She means Mr. Ford."

He actually laughed. "I'll tell them about the invite. That's very kind of you."

"We'll see you tomorrow then." Susan turned to Jo. "Be safe, honey."

Eliot stepped out of the house and Jo gave her mother a withering glance that was once again completely deflected.

"I like his hair."

Jo picked up her hat and jammed it under arm. "Down, Delilah."

* * *

Parker kept rubbing her fingers together to ease the itchiness she felt there. It was tough working in a bank as a teller, around all that money and not being able to just stick some away. But no, she had to focus. She wasn't there to steal money this time. She was there to get the inside look at the bank accounts for Reilly and Gregory as well as getting into the lock box where the voided checks were kept. She had already cracked the safe this morning and found the checks weren't there. She did, however, find the number of the lock box that held them though.

Her chance came around eleven in the morning, when most of the tellers took their lunch break to beat the lunch hour rush from the businesses around the bank. One other teller was left to watch over the "new girl" but she became involved in a gossipy story from the woman at the drive through window. Parker plugged in the flash drive Hardison had given her and quickly downloaded those two accounts. When the download was complete, she slipped the flash drive back into her pocket.

"I got the Reilly and Gregory accounts."

"Excellent. Just in case we find something fishy in them, at least we have them for evidence," Hardison answered back. "Now, you just need to get down to the vault."

Parker looked at the man who just came in through the front door and smiled. "My way just walked through the door." She watched as Nate spoke to someone about using a lockbox while he was in town on business. When the teller was ready to take him down to the vault, Parker quickly exited from behind her counter.

"Shirley," she called out. "I was wondering if you could show me how you handle the lock boxes downstairs."

The older woman gave her a slightly surprised look.

"It's just," Parker tried to look excited but normal at the same time, "I just want to learn everything I can."

Shirley looked back at Nate. "Do you mind if she accompanies us, sir?"

"What, me? No," he answered in an accent that reminded Parker of Eliot. "If this little lady is interested in learning banking, then by george she should come with us."

As the trio went down the stairs, Parker lifted the master key from Shirley's pocket and handed it to Nate. He placed it the key molding box she had given him and then quickly took it out and Parker replaced it back into Shirley's pocket. It was a trick she had a done a couple of times but it had always worked. She stood there while Shirley explained the lock boxes and the key system to her and Nate. As Shirley turned to leave Parker slid Nate a note that had the lock box number where all the voided checks were kept. He gave her a quick nod and she returned back upstairs to the counter to finish out her day as a teller.

A few minutes later, Nate appeared from below, gave Shirley a friendly wave and then turned towards Parker and patted his shirt pocket.

"So?" Parker asked lowly so no one else would hear her talking to herself. "Who are the checks made out to?"

She heard Nate exhale heavily. "A new name to this whole mess. Hardison, I need you to find me everything you can on a Sean O'Malley."


	5. The Whole Picture

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Five: The Whole Picture**

"All units, we have a 49S, 410 and 21B in progress, corner of 5th and Main."

Eliot glanced over at Jo and saw her face was pinched and hard. They were less than two blocks from the call. He recognized 49S, silent alarm but he wasn't sure what 410 and 21B was.

"Armed robbery and business burglary," Jo said. "There's a Sunoco station on the corner of 5th and Main."

As much as he hated to do it, he pulled out the Glock she had given him and loaded it. As soon as the cartridge locked into position, they were pulling into the parking lot and Jo was out of the car. She turned back to him and held up two fingers, tapping them against her upper arm. He nodded in understanding, two perps, both armed. He crouched down near the front door of the store, watching gunman number one, complete with ski mask, waving a semi-automatic pistol in the clerk's face. The poor girl had tears streaming down her face as she shoved what little money there was into a backpack.

"Second gunman is guarding the back door," Jo whispered, as she came up next to him.

"I'll take the second guy then," he started to move when Jo placed a hand on his arm.

"No killing. Least amount of violence possible."

He nodded and kept moving, slightly irked now. He would think about it later though, he had to take out an idiot who thought he knew how a fire arm worked. The building wasn't that big and the back door was already propped open. Eliot could hear the sirens in the distance and as soon as the robbers heard them, it would make them panic. He heard the front door open and Jo's voice carried all the way to the back of the store.

"Drop your weapon!"

Eliot charged through the open back door and let instinct take over. The second gun man had shifted his attention to the front of the store and his hand was shaking so badly, knocking the gun out of his grip was too easy. Eliot did have to keep himself from knocking the guy out, Jo's warning sounding in his head. Instead, he pushed the robber down on the floor and cuffed him before glancing up at the front of the store. Jo had the other robber face down on the counter, cuffing him too.

Eliot went back and hauled the second guy to his feet. Just as he did that, the bathroom door opened and out walked another gun toting robber. Apparently, he was a little faster on the uptake, and got off two shots before Eliot took the gun from him and gave him a broken nose instead. After that, it didn't take much to cuff him as well. With one perp crying like a little girl and the other one bleeding profusely from the nose, Eliot drug both of them up to the front of the store where the clerk was still crying. Police cars were pulling up in front of the store but Jo looked a little shaken.

"Hey," Eliot reached out and grabbed her arm. Jo's face went ash white and she dropped to her knees. Eliot pulled his hand away and found it slick with blood. He didn't know the code to call into dispatch that his partner had been shot, the clerk was screaming now and the other cops were just making their way into the store. Eliot turned to the first one through the door.

"Officer Wyatt's been shot."

The other cops took over after that. Two other officers escorted the three gunmen out of the store, another cop took the rattled clerk outside and Eliot handed the detective that had shown up the gun that the third robber had used to shoot Jo. The ambulance arrived around the same time as Chief Reilly. When he saw the Chief making his way into the store, Eliot took a protective stance over Jo who was propped up against the ice cream freezer, dazed but conscious.

"What happened?" Reilly asked.

Eliot narrowed his eyes slightly at the bored tone Reilly had used. "Three armed robbers. Jo went in the front and I went in the back."

"How did she get shot?"

_Don't break any noses yet, Eliot._ Nate's voice bounced around his head for a couple seconds and Eliot took comfort from the word yet. He would have his chance to take Reilly down a notch. "You can ask Office Wyatt that question. I didn't see it happen."

Reilly turned his attention to Jo. "Well?"

Jo's eyes were glassy but her voice was steady with a tinge of anger. "Third guy was in the bathroom. He came out when we had the other two in custody and got off two shots before Turner took him out."

Reilly turned back to Eliot as the EMT's settled around Jo and started to cut her shirt away from her shoulder.

"Good job, Turner. Not bad for rookie." Reilly extended his hand.

Eliot grinned and took the offered hand, squeezing it a little harder than necessary. "Thank you, sir."

"Well, better stick with your partner." Reilly said, flexing his hand now. "She'll help you fill out the paperwork."

Eliot nodded and watched Reilly walk back outside. The EMT's were helping Jo off the floor and started handing him her gun, keys, radio and what was once the sleeve of her shirt.

"You can follow us to the hospital, Officer Turner," the one EMT said.

"Or you can just go back to the precinct," Jo said. "I'll be back there later on today. This won't take long."

Eliot held the door open for her and the medics. "If it won't take too long, I can wait at the hospital. You'll need a ride back to the precinct."

She tipped her head tiredly and muttered a "whatever."

One of the EMT's came up to Eliot. "We can't release her to go back to work until tomorrow and even then, it'll be desk duty until her arm heals. It might be best to go back to the precinct and let her mother pick her up."

He waited until Jo was in the ambulance. "Trust me, I'll take her home today."

The EMT smiled. "Good luck with that."

Eliot watched the ambulance close it's doors and head down main street to the hospital that loomed in the distance. He looked around for Reilly and found him leaning over the open back door of one of the police cars.

"Hardison?"

"Yeah man?"

"Start recording on the earbud and see if you can turn the volume up to hear what Reilly is saying." Eliot wandered over towards the direction of Reilly. He tried to walk as quietly as he could but with the sirens and cops walking around, he wasn't sure how much Hardison could catch. After a minute, Reilly straightened up and slammed the door shut. He turned around and caught sight of Eliot standing there.

"Can I help you, Officer Turner?"

"I, uh, I don't have the keys to Officer's Wyatt's cruiser."

"What's on your belt, there son?"

Eliot forgot the EMT's had handed him Jo's keys. He gave Reilly a sheepish look. "Sorry about that, sir. I don't know-"

"It's alright." Reilly patted him on the shoulder. "Happens a lot when your partner gets hurt."

Eliot nodded and beelined it for the car that was still running, lights on and both doors open. He shut the passenger side one and slid into the driver's seat. He found the switch for the lights and buckled his seatbelt. "Well, Hardison?"

"Working on it. Hang on."

"How is Jo?" Sophie's voice came across the comm tight with worry.

"She'll be fine," Eliot said, pulling out onto main street. It helped that the hospital could be seen in the distance. "It looked like the bullet went clean through her upper arm. She should heal up no problem."

"Oh, hell no."

Eliot knew that note in Hardison's voice. "What is it?"

Hardison must have turned up the volume on his computer because Eliot could hear the static across the earbud but then Reilly's voice broke up the static.

"I thought I taught you how to shoot better than that."

"So, it was supposed to be a hit," Nathan said unnecessarily.

"You want me to take Reilly down?"

"No, not yet," Nathan said. "We have to find a way to get Jo's money back. We're going to investigate some leads today and we'll all meet at Jo's tomorrow for the cookout and hopefully have a plan set for the con then. Just keep playing the concerned and now, over protective, partner."

Eliot didn't want any of them to know just how badly he wanted to pummel Reilly at the moment and how, strangely enough, he didn't have to play at being concerned or protective towards Jo. He was already there.

* * *

"Alright, ladies and gents," Hardison pulled his keyboard onto his lap, "here is our last briefing. First things first, how's Jo?"

Nathan had been watching Eliot out of the corner of his eye all night. The hitter was snappy and more surly than usual. Even now, as he was telling them that Jo was home, resting and annoyed at the attention, he still had his arms crossed and was tense. He had a feeling this job would bother Eliot, the client being a harassed cop, but he didn't expect Eliot to take it quite this personally. However, having Jo shot with him being less than 20 feet away would get under Eliot's skin.

"Alright," Hardison said and turned on the TV. "Here are the major players. Chief Mark Reilly. Before he became police chief, there's not much on the man. I had to do some extensive digging and this is what I found." A mug shot of a much thinner, mustached Reilly popped up on the screen. "Meet Mr. Sean O'Malley, a wanna be mobster that none of the Irish mob wanted to take on because no matter what heist he tried to pulled off, he got caught."

"Lousy mobster, lousy Chief," Parker said. "You would think he would pick up on the pattern."

"Now, the one thing that Sean O'Malley did do correctly, was steal ten million dollars from the Moretti's in New York City."

"The Moretti's?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah," Hardison pulled up a picture of the family. "They're like the Soprano's of Manhattan. Donnelly told O'Malley if he could swindle ten million from the Moretti's, then he would be accepted as a player in the Irish mob here in Boston. Somehow, someway, O'Malley pulled it off but as soon as he did, Donnelly and the other two Irish mob families went down. Instead of giving the money back, O'Malley used some it to gain a new identity and new career."

"And now he's Police Chief Mark Reilly," Sophie said. "Who are the kids?"

Hardison enlarged the five mug shots that were floating around in the background. "We've already met Jake Henderson. This is Jake's best friend, Jeremy Voight. They're practically inseparable so it's almost a given that they're in cahoots in Step-Daddy's posse. As are these three upstanding citizens. See, Eliot, you may recognize these three gents...aw, no, you wouldn't. They had ski masks on when you had the pleasure of meeting them."

"Move it along, Hardison," Eliot answered shortly.

Hardison went to say something smart but Nathan made a cutting motion across his throat. Hardison took the hint.

"Reilly's trying to form his own mobbish type family and he's using his stepsons friends to do his dirty work."

"So Jo's not the only one he's squeezing?" Parker asked.

"Afraid not. There's two other families that are sending him checks. Nate found them when he found Jo's canceled check. One of the families are the Gregorys. They are the ones that supposedly lost their son in the car accident. Sophie called them today posing as a rep from the tuition office of UCLA and confirmed that Brian Gregory is a student there."

"So what happened to the settlement money that Jo paid the Gregorys?" Eliot asked.

"Half of it went right into Reilly's account. The other half went to Brian's college education. However, the Gregory's are still paying a monthly fee to keep it all under wraps." Hardison pulled a final picture up on the screen. "Reilly is gathering funds for something or rather, someone. The Morettis want a foothold in Massachusetts and ultimately, Boston. This fine young woman behind me is Allegra Ricci, a niece in the Moretti family, who happens to be running for mayor of Fitchburg."

Nathan nodded. "Reilly is hoping to buy the mayoral race. He can't use any of the ten million because that has to go back to the Morettis so he's fleecing families for the funds."

"Oh," Parker grinned. "I liked your use of alliteration there, Nate."

"So what's the con?" Eliot asked.

Nathan looked at the information still swimming across the screen. "We steal a New York mob family name and convince Reilly we have more to offer than the Morettis. We'll run everything by Jo tomorrow afternoon and if she gives the green light, let the game begin."


	6. The Line of Duty

**Author's Note: **I am so sorry for the delay in updating. I hit a major writer's block in this chapter. It was so frustrating because I know where the story is going, have scenes outlines and how it's going to end (I practically have the epilogue already written) but for some reason the words just didn't want to come to me. I hope the next few chapters go better and I sincerely hope you all still enjoy this chapter.

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Six: The Line of Duty**

Jo watched her mother move effortlessly around the kitchen. With her arm in a sling, she had been demoted to the burger flipper for that afternoon's cookout and nothing more. As much as she hated just sitting at the table sneaking pickle slices, at least Amber had made a complete turnaround. The seventeen year old had greeted Jo at the door yesterday afternoon sobbing and apologizing. This morning, Jo returned the phone and allowed Amber to reschedule her dress shopping for that afternoon but she had to take Meg with her. Thankfully, Amber agreed without grumbling and the two girls were getting ready to go to the mall now.

"Why are you sending the girls out?"

"Because Mr. Ford and his team are coming over, Mom. They're going to want to discuss their plan and I don't want the girls involved in this."

Her mother shrugged elegantly as she tossed a salad. "I don't see any harm in allowing them to get to know the people helping them."

"The people that are helping them are liars, thieves and worse. They are the last resort, the ones you go to when the good guys can't help you anymore." Jo felt slightly guilty saying those thoughts out loud because Ford and his team were helping her. It bothered her even more to know that by being good and following rules wasn't enough to make it in today's society.

"Eliot seems nice."

"He's the worst one of the bunch."

"How do you know?"

Jo shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "I know a killer when I'm looking at one."

Her mother emitted a short laugh. "Nonsense. He may be rough around the edges but far from a killer. He's an army man."

Jo didn't want to argue with her mother, not with the girls still in the house and Nathan and crew on their way. She had watched Eliot during a couple of rough calls and saw how fighting came more naturally to him than carrying on a conversation. It wasn't such a leap to think of him as taking lives, maybe not recently but definitely at some point in his life. And it could be true that he was in the army but the few skills she had seen him use had been more than just basic military training.

"Anyway," her mother continued, "if they really are as bad as you think, why are they helping us?"

"I don't know, Mom. Maybe they're trying to change themselves, become better people. Even bad guys can have fits of conscience."

A fresh plate of pickles was set down in front of her on the table. "Maybe Eliot and the others unsettle you because you all are looking for the same thing."

"Justice?"

Her mother smiled sadly. "No, dear. Happiness."

"I'm happy."

Her mother patted her hand. "Of course, honey."

"We're off to the mall, Aunt Jo," Amber came in and gave Jo a gentle one armed hug.

"Behave, girls," Jo told them half heartedly. Her mother's words cut much deeper that she wanted to admit. She watched the two girls climb into Amber's car and pull out of the driveway. She was happy...wasn't she? She had a job and did it well. She had two wonderful nieces and her mother, with whom she was close. She had problems but didn't everyone?

"Maybe we should tell them to call the whole thing off," Jo murmured. "Maybe this was a mistake."

Her mother sighed heavily and stood up, going over to the sink. "That's your call, Jo. If you want to tell them that, go ahead. Mr. Dodge just pulled up."

"Ford, Mom. His name is Ford. Why do you keep calling him Dodge?"

"Dodge's are more reliable." Her mother winked at her. "But we called them for help and they're giving it to us. You can't judge people on their past, only what they're doing now, in the present. And now," her mother looked back out the window, "they're bringing in a bunch of food for us."

* * *

Eliot had to hand it to Jo for keeping it together the entire night. It was only when her mother went inside to see what the girls bought at the mall that Jo let her facade slip ever so slightly. Her eyes dulled over, her shoulders dropped a couple centimeters and her posture slipped into a slouch. He wondered if anyone else noticed it or if he was the only one. He was slightly disturbed at how well he was becoming at reading Jo's body language.

"Is my family in danger?"

Eliot looked at Nate's face and realized he didn't have the answer so Eliot fielded the question. "Possibly. Do you have any friends on the force or retired that would be willing to take shifts outside your home?"

"A couple. I'll have to make some calls."

Hardison stood up. "I brought a security system with me with motion detectors and everything. Parker and I can install it before we leave."

Jo nodded in tired agreement. "Thanks."

"Take one of your sick days tomorrow," Nate added. "Use that day to contact people who can help with surveillance. Eliot will help you."

Normally whenever Nate volunteered his services, it raised Eliot's hackles. He waited for the slight sting of insult but it didn't come. There was nothing, no emotion, so he just shrugged. Hardison's laughter echoed out from the house, interrupting the somber pall that had settled over those who stayed around the picnic table. Eliot knew Sophie and Parker were inside helping Susan put away leftovers. The back door opened and Sophie re-emerged with a pot of coffee and a smile.

"Hardison just found a new friend."

"Oh?" Jo looked less than enthused.

"Apparently there's this online game called Warcraft-"

Jo groaned. "Meg lives for that game."

"And so does Hardison," Sophie added. "They just found out that their in the same group or something, I didn't quite catch it all."

"Guild," Hardison appeared with a tray full of mugs. "It's called a guild. Honestly people, pick up a history book."

"That's okay, Mr. Hardison," Meg said, taking a seat next to Jo. "Warcraft isn't for everyone."

"That's right!" Hardison responded. "That's why we have to stick up for each other, girl. Stand proud in the midst of these close minded simpletons. Fist bump." Hardison held out his closed fist and Meg grinned widely and bumped her own fist with his. "That's what I'm talking about. You stay strong, WildKard."

Susan touched Jo's elbow. "Amber wants to show you the dress she got for graduation."

Jo looked at Nate, who nodded and she quickly excused herself. Susan handed out the coffee mugs and sat down with a weary sigh. "Meg, honey, why don't see if you can help Mr. Hardison with the security system when he's ready?"

"Really?" She turned towards Hardison with wide eyes. "Can I help you with it?"

"If it's okay with your Nana there, then sure." Hardison stood up from the table. "Let's get started."

Eliot watched the two head off in the dusk towards the van. Their voices still carried back to the porch, Hardison's with a bunch tech speak followed by Meg's "Awesome"s and "cool"s. But Susan didn't send Jo and Meg away without reason. "What's going on, Susan?"

"Did Jo ask you to call this off?"

Nate's eyes widened a bit. "No. Was she intending to?"

Susan smiled slightly. "Jo is a very...conflicted person right now. Her father was a police officer, a great one. That's why she went into law enforcement herself. She was a true Daddy's girl. She thinks in very black and white contrast. The good will win because they're good and the bad will be caught and punished. She knows life doesn't work like that but when you play by the rules, do the right thing and you're treated like one of the bad guys, it confuses her. I was surprised she even agreed to calling you, Mr. Ford, let alone allowing you to help."

"So what exactly do you want us to do?" Nate asked.

"I want you to continue with whatever plans you have already made. I want you to prove to her that the good guys still can win. I want you to nail these bastards. Jo being shot in that convenience store wasn't by coincidence. That was where her father was shot and killed eight years ago. So bring down these people for her and for me."

* * *

Jo ran the silver pendant through her hand once more. She had done it 53 times since she heard Nathan Ford and his team pull out of her driveway. Amber had bought more than just a dress at the mall that day. When Jo had gone inside to see the dress, Amber had shoved the necklace and pendant into her hand. Jo had been too shocked to say anything and by the time she had found her tongue again, Amber was already asleep. And so she went into her own bedroom, sitting on the side of her bed and feeding the chain and pendant through her fingers like they were a rosary. A quiet knock at the door momentarily froze her fingers.

"Come in." She watched the mirror, waiting to see her mom reflected there but was surprised at seeing who she least expected. "Eliot?"

He gave a half wave. "I just saw your light was still on and thought I'd check on ya."

"I thought everyone had left already."

"They did but your mom invited me to stay since we were going to head out tomorrow and recruit some surveillance. Is this a problem?"

Jo shook her head. "No."

He stood there for a few uncomfortable seconds before seeing the flash of silver in her hand. "What's that?"

Jo held up the pendant so he could see it clearly. "It's St. Michael, the patron saint of police officers. Amber gave it to me to-tonight." Her throat constricted and she felt tears burning her eyes but she couldn't find it in herself to care that he was the first stranger to see her cry since her father's funeral. Instead, she continued to hold up the necklace. "Do you know what this means? It means my girls are scared. They've lost their mother, father and grandfather and they haven't graduated high school yet. And now they're scared of losing me." Once again, she felt like an angry teenager pitching a fit over not going to a party. "It's not fair."

She felt Eliot tug the necklace out of her hands. "That's why we're here. To make things fair again for people who have suffered losses. To set things straight for good people that are being taken advantage of by the bad." His fingertips brushed the back of her neck as he fastened the necklace for her. "That's what we do."

Jo angrily swiped at her tears. "That's what you do, make promises?"

"No," he smiled. "We keep them."

* * *

Sophie waited until Hardison and Parker had turned in for the night before sitting down on the couch next to Nate. "Are you sure it was wise to let Eliot stay behind tonight?"

Nate turned on the local news. "Yeah, why?"

"Safety issues, for one. What if Reilly-"

"Reilly? We haven't even entered into the con yet. Reilly doesn't know us from Adam. Jo's family, now that's a different matter. Until Jo can get some other people to keep an eye on the house, Eliot's the best man to do the job."

Sophie rubbed her forehead absently. "Nate, he's taking the job too personally. And you know how Eliot gets when a pretty damsel-in-distress is our client. The Fiddle job, remember how that ended?"

"It ended with Kaye Lynn getting her song back and a bunch of offers from agents. And Jo is the farthest thing from a damsel-in-distress. She depressed and lost some hope but she can take care of herself. She not helpless."

"Yes," Sophie drawled, "we all know how Eliot hates a challenge."

"What do you want me to do, Sophie? Go back to the house and play chaperon? Make sure they're sleeping in separate rooms and not holding hands under the table?"

"I just want you to keep in mind what you've done to us, Nate. You took in four people who had ridiculously low morals and gave us back our conscience. And with that conscience comes little pieces of our hearts. Each job we complete gives us another piece of ourselves that we lost before you took us on as a team."

Nate turned the television off and sighed. "You think he's in love with her?"

"No, nothing that serious. Not yet anyway." Sophie pulled her legs underneath her. "You did notice he didn't fuss over you offering his services to track down help tomorrow or say anything about being left behind tonight? What I am saying is all the pieces are there for this end badly."

"Oh come on, Soph. Falling in love isn't so bad, is it?"

She hated moments like this, where he baited her to see what type of ground she was standing on at that moment. Well, she wouldn't take it tonight, not when losing Eliot to a client was the foremost worry in her mind. It might not be a problem but she had been reading people for too long not to pick up on subtle signs of affection and loyalty. "No, it isn't so bad as long as both people are on the same page. If not," she stood up and started for her room, "it can be absolutely devastating for all involved."


	7. Hit

**Author's Note: **Once again, sorry for the delay. I'm still struggling with some writer's block though it's getting better. Thank you again for your wonderful reviews, alerts and favorites!

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Seven: Hit**

Mother Nature had decided to dump gallons of water on the greater Fitchburg area the entire day. Eliot was thankful that they had arrived at their last home because it meant he was that much closer to getting a hot shower and dry clothes. Jo was starting to look a little worse for wear as well. She had spent the last twenty minutes of the drive trying not to fall asleep. They both got out of the car and scrambled up onto the covered porch of the country home. Jo tucked some wet curls behind her ear and pressed the doorbell.

"This is retired Chief Ken Bradford. He was the Chief before Reilly."

"And he's not inside the house."

Eliot took half a step in front of Jo but she ducked around him, heading towards the gray headed man that was sitting on an old fashioned porch swing.

"Chief Bradford," Jo greeted him with a one armed hug and the most genuine smile Eliot had seen the entire time he had known her.

"It's Ken now, please." He motioned for her to sit down. "Who's your bodyguard there, Jo?"

"This is Eliot Turner. He's my temporary partner while Kyle is on vacation."

Eliot extended his hand towards Ken and was rewarded with a strong handshake. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"So," Ken returned to his seat on the porch swing, "you didn't drive out all this way to show off your temp. What's really going on here?"

Jo had taken the space on the swing next to Ken and Eliot pulled one of the rocking chairs closer to swing before sitting down. Jo had handled the explanation of events the entire day, altering the delivery each time. The other two retired cops she had spoken with were more than ready to offer their help so Eliot expected this to go the same way. However, after Jo had finished her request, Ken Bradford put his scotch glass down on the porch floor.

"I'm sorry, Jo, but I can't do anything for you."

Eliot watched Jo's face fall and it disturbed him on various levels. "Why can't you help?"

"It's okay, Eliot," Jo responded but the timber in her voice said otherwise.

"You don't understand the position I'm in right now," Ken added.

"Then explain it to us."

"Eliot!"

Eliot stood up from the chair and headed towards the other end of porch before his temper got the better of him. He didn't mind if people didn't want to help, it happened a lot in their line of work. But Jo was certain of this man's help and his refusal had shocked her and Eliot felt the residual sting of Jo's hurt. There had to be a reason, one this guy didn't want known.

"Hardison?"

"Yeah man, I'm on it."

"Hurry up, Jo's wrapping up the visit."

There were a couple beats of silence before Hardison came back on the comm. "Alright, here we go and you're not going to like this so please, do not hit anything."

"You don't hurry it up, I'll hit you."

"Okay, okay. Ken Bradford was the Chief before Reilly but he took an early retirement and when I say took-"

"He was paid off to retire, yeah, I get it. Why?"

"His wife had cancer and uh, insurance didn't want to pay for the treatment."

Eliot expelled the breath he had been holding. "You want me to confront him?"

"Me?" Hardison answered. "Well, I'm just touched-"

"Not you," Eliot cut him off. "Nate?"

There was a rough sound in Eliot's ear, a sound he had come to realize was Nate clearing his throat. "Talk to Jo on the way back her house, see what you can't find out from her before we start rummaging through his life."

"Alright." Eliot slowly made his way back across the porch just as Jo was standing up to leave. She gave him an uneasy look which he ignored. "Sorry about before."

Ken waved his hand. "Not a problem. It's nice to see partners take an actually interest in each other."

Jo gave him another hug. "I'll keep you up to date with what's going on."

"Tell your mother I said 'hello.' And Jo, watch your back. You're digging up things that shouldn't be seeing the light of day."

Jo have a slight nod and started to walk down to the car, Eliot following her quietly. They were both soaking wet again and Eliot noticed Jo was shivering. He flipped the heater on and started out of the driveway. Before he could even ask her about Ken Bradford, she started talking.

"They must have gotten to him already." She dropped her head foreward and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What did Hardison have to say?"

"How did you-"

"I figured that's why you got up, acting like you were upset and needing time to cool off, to talk to Hardison."

Eliot white knuckled the steering wheel, debating whether to tell her the truth or indulge her misinterpretation.

"It wasn't an act," she stated simply. "You really were upset. Why?"

He decided to ignore the line of questioning. "I did talk to Hardison. How is Bradford's wife doing with her cancer treatment?"

"She died two years ago from a heart attack. The doctor's said the treatment she received was too much on her heart and it just gave out. What else did Hardison say?"

Eliot sighed and released the death grip on the steering wheel. "He said that Bradford was bribed into early retirement. Reilly probably offered him enough cash to pay for the cancer treatment for his wife's treatment so he took it."

Jo was quiet for a few minutes. "You know, I don't think I could find it in myself to blame him for taking that money. It did give him a few more years with her. I'm all about playing by the rules but sometimes..."

Eliot smiled. "Sometimes you have to find people who play outside of the sand box."

Jo laughed. "Exactly. We'll find someone else to help us." She stifled a yawn.

Nate's voice sounded in his ear. "She wants to leave Bradford alone then that's what we'll do."

Eliot concentrated on retracing the turns to get him back to route 12 and when he finally did, he turned to say something to Jo only to find her sound asleep. Finally, she looked relaxed and as peaceful as he had ever seen her. He hoped she stayed that way for the rest of the ride.

"How's your end of this going, Nate?" Eliot whispered.

"We're about to find out," came Nate's answer. "Reilly just walked into the bar."

_

* * *

JR's Pub, Fitchburg _

Nate fiddled with the scotch glass in front of him. He was trying, making an effort to drink less. He hadn't done a job drunk in over six months and he considered that a significant improvement. Apparently the rest of the team must have seen it the same way. Even Sophie had stopped looking over his shoulder so much and that was enough reason to limit himself to one glass.

"How's your end of this going, Nate?" Eliot's voice crackled in his ear.

"We're about to find out," he answered, "Reilly just walked into the bar."

The police chief's eyes roved over the clientel and Nate had to shake his head. Compared to some of the other marks they had gone up against, this guy was a push over. At least he didn't show up in his uniform. He ordered a beer and carried it over to the booth where Nate was sitting. Reilly spent most of his life trying to prove himself so a little ego stroking wouldn't hurt.

"I'm sorry there," Nate said in his best Long Island accent, "but I'm expecting someone, chief."

Reilly gave him a toothy grin. "Yeah, I know. I'm Mark, the guy you spoke with on the phone this morning."

"Oh, my apologies then," Nate shook the Chief's hand. "Please, have a seat. We have some, uh, business to discuss."

"Yeah, about that," Reilly slid into the booth across from Nate. "I already have a horse I'm backing in the coming mayoral election. I could have told you that over the phone."

"I understand but I figured you would want to know what kind of people you're letting into your, uh, quaint little town here. It's a lovely town, might bring my wife back for a weekend. The Moretti's," Nate waved dismissively, "they're no good. You need a family who appareciates your special kind of cunning."

Reilly chuckled. "I'm not a stupid man, Mr. Gallo. I know I don't have the mind the mob is looking for but I do have something that they want. I can arrange things to work in my favor but I know when I'm trying to be played."

"Not trying to play ya, Mark. Just want to ask you one question though: how would you like to keep that ten million for yourself?"

Reilly's pint glass paused halfway to his mouth. "Go ahead."

"As you know, I represent the De Luca family. The De Luca's and the Moretti's don't exactly see eye to eye anymore. Something to do with a De Luca marrying a Moretti and then the idiot kid cheated on the girl and well, more than one person ended up in the Hudson, let's just say. The mother of the slighted girl wants nothing more than to show the Moretti's the door. When she heard about the Moretti's using Fitchburg as their back door into Boston, she called me to offer you a deal you shouldn't refuse."

"You have my attention."

Nate opened his mouth to continue with the deal when some movement to his left caught his attention. As he turned to see what it was, the pub door opened and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something was off...something was about to happen and it wasn't going to be pleasant.

* * *

Jo felt the comfort of sleep slowly start to unravel. It was an instinctual sense that she had developed from growing up in a police officer's home and followed by ten years on the force. Something was wrong. She forced herself back to consciousness and tried to clear her mind. It didn't take much effort as Eliot already had one hand pressed to his ear and was shouting.

"Nate? What's going on?"

Jo couldn't hear anything from Eliot's ear bud but judging from the tight look on his face, there was a lot of chatter he was trying to process. He tried calling Nate's name a couple more times but grimaced each time. She wished she had her police scanner with her or at least her laptop so she could check the emergency calls that were live. Eliot turned towards her.

"Do you know where JR's Pub is?"

"Yeah, I do."

"If someone was hurt there, where would they take them?"

"HealthAlliance in downtown. If it's serious, they'll life flight them to Boston. What happened?"

"Don't know yet."

Jo pulled out her cell phone and called her house. Her mother picked up on the second ring and Jo cut her off. "Mom, I need you to get on my computer right now." She waited for a couple seconds and listened to her mother type in passwords. "I need you to go the live call center website and type in my badge number and password."

"Okay."

"Look for any live emergency calls that are coming from JR's."

"Oh, there's a bunch of them."

Jo took a deep breath. "What do they say?"

"It's a bunch of ambulance calls...a 33 code went out."

"Shooting," Jo said. "Mom, watch the news and keep checking the live call center. If you find out anything, call me."

"What happened?" her mother asked.

"Nate was at JR's and something happened. I'll call when I know more."

"Alright. Same here," she answered.

Jo snapped her phone shut. "The only thing that's coming across the interent call center are shots fired and ambulance calls. We have no way to get further information unless we go to JR's. You have your badge?"

"Glove compartment. Hardison is following the live call feed too."

Jo fished out her badge from her purse and sliped the chain over her neck. She opened the glove compartment and handed Eliot's badge to him. The ride back to Fitchburg seemed excruiatingly long and was punctuated every few minutes with Eliot trying to reach someone from the team who knew something but chaos was still running rampant. Parker was at the scene, Sophie waiting at the hospital and Hardison watching the live calls. When Eliot finally pulled onto the street where JR's Pub was located, the police already had the block taped off. He parked the car along the curb and they quickly made their way under the yellow tape. Jo grabbed the first friendly face she found.

"Robert, what happened?"

The tall middle aged man turned around to face her. "A bunch of mob guys went into JR's and shot up the place."

"Anyone hurt?"

"Yay, about six people got caught in the crossfire."

"Anyone killed?"

Robert shifted on his feet and looked back at the front of the pub. The lucky patrons were gathered on the sidewalk, pale faced and crying. "Uh, one fatality so far."

Jo scanned the faces of the victims, searching for Nathan but she didn't see him. She held her breath. "Who was it?"

"Chief Reilly."

Jo felt the wind rush out of her lungs. As her mind was trying to process the idea of Reilly dead, Eliot pushed past her, shoving his keys into her good hand. She saw where he was going, Nathan was just brought out of the pub on a stretcher. The EMTs were moving fast, cutting bloody scraps of clothes from his torso. He looked bad and Jo swallowed hard. Eliot climbed into the back of the ambulance and soon they were on their way to the hospital.


	8. Fallout

**Author's Note: **The Muse is returning! Yay! Thank you again for all your wonderful reviews! I try hard not to beg for reviews but they really do encourage me to keep going with a story and everyone's reviews have done just that! So I hope you all know, when I say thank you, I mean it!

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Eight: Fallout**

It was the siren and potholes that drove Nate back to consciousness. His chest was on fire and the air he was able to pull in through his nose smelled like plastic. An ambulance...an oxygen mask...the bright lights above him made everything hazy, including the two paramedics that darted in and out of his fuzzy vision. But there was one face, a familiar one, that he was relieved to see.

"Eliot..."

The hitter gave him a strained smile. "Take it easy, Nate."

Nate saw a flash and noticed the badge around Eliot's neck. So that's how he got himself into the ambulance. One of the medics leaned over and said something to Eliot who nodded.

"How bad..."

Eliot shifted so he crouched down next to Nate's ear. "They don't know how bad yet. You'll probably be going in for surgery when we get to the hospital."

Nate felt his earbud be removed and watched Eliot pocket it discreetly. "Can't...breathe..."

"Yeah, you took three shots to your chest but luckily they landed near your shoulder."

"Reilly?"

Eliot shook his head. "They got him."

Nate tried to lift his hand to assess the damage but one of the medics pushed his hand back down. He caught Eliot's eye. "Am I gonna live?"

"Toughest sonofabitch I know."

The ambulance stopped and sunlight flooded into the back of the vehicle. The medics and Eliot worked together to get the gurney out of the ambulance and into the hospital. Nate heard the medics tell Eliot that they would keep him updated. Nate tried to give the hitter a thumbs up but his hands wouldn't work right. One of the medics leaned down over him and injected something into the IV.

"We're going to be taking you into surgery now, Mr. Gallo. Do you have any medication allergies?"

Nate shook his head.

"Do you understand what I just asked you?"

"Yes," he managed to croak out.

"What did I just ask you?"

"If I was," he tried to pull in enough air to finish the sentence. "allergic...medications."

The nurse patted his good shoulder. "Very good. Just count backwards from 100."

Nate didn't make it past 96 before the medication did it's job.

* * *

"Is she just going to skulk around the corner or what?"

Sophie sighed. "Parker, why don't you go over and tell Jo to come sit with us?"

"Because I don't want her here." Parker crossed her arms and scowled. "I knew this job wasn't a good one."

"It's not her fault that Nate was shot," Sophie tried to reason with the blond but gave up almost immediately. Parker was starting to accept the fact that emotions were a part of life, even her life, but learning what to do with those emotions was trickier. And it was something Parker had to deal with herself.

Sophie went to stand up to retrieve Jo when she saw Hardison already going to get the distraught cop. It only took a couple seconds before the hacker returned, Jo in tow. Eliot had returned as well but a slight shrug told them there was no news on Nate's condition. Sophie fought the urge to cry.

"Hey," Eliot sat down next to her, "he was talking in the ambulance and was aware of what was going on. He even asked about Reilly. That's a really good sign."

"I know." Sophie forced a smile but couldn't hide her shaking hands.

Hardison was typing on his phone when a smile crossed his face. "Hey guys, guess who the state police just handed the case to? Bonanno."

Jo's head perked up at this. "Patrick Bonanno?"

"You know him?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah," Jo nodded, "he's worked with us a couple times. Great cop, really sharp." She looked around at the thieves around her. "Really sharp cop."

Sophie shrugged. "We've worked with him before on other cases. He's never made an attempt to go after us and since you know him, I'm sure he'll turn a blind eye."

"I hope so," Jo looked down at the floor. "I'd hate to see anything else happen to you guys. I'm so sor-"

"Hey," Eliot cut her off, "this is what happens in our line of work."

"Not all the time," Parker spoke up.

"Parker," Eliot continued, "it does happen. Nate's going to be fine. We just don't know how long his recovery is going to be but he will recover. Meanwhile, we continue with the job. Sophie'll take over."

It was the last thing on her mind but Sophie realized Eliot was right. The job needed to be finished and it was going to be even harder since the mark was dead. Actually, it just might be easier now that she thought about it. The only other person who knew of Reilly's dealings, and most likely the extra bank accounts, was the slacker stepson. Putting the squeeze on him would be all too easy. But that was something that she could discuss with the team when they all were assured Nate would be alright.

Sophie looked over at Jo, who had pulled her legs underneath her and was trying to find a comfortable position for her injured arm. The woman looked exhausted, dark rings under her eyes and the color of green looked washed out. She couldn't let Jo down. None of them could, Nate would insist on it. Sophie could see him now, giving orders and directives from his hospital bed. Tears sprang to her eyes and she tried to swallow them down. A hand squeezed her shoulder and she looked over to see Eliot.

"I mean it, he's going to pull through just fine."

She patted the hand on her shoulder. "Thanks."

Hardison perked up. "I smell soup."

Sophie turned around and saw Susan, Amber and Meg making their way towards the waiting area. They were all carrying bags and Sophie could smell what Hardison had: chicken soup. Susan gave them all a shaky smile as she set the bag down and started pulling out containers.

"We came as soon as we could," she said.

"As soon as Grandma could thaw out some of her homemade chicken noodle soup," Meg added.

Hardison was already grabbing a spoon. "Thank you, Nana."

Sophie took the offered container of soup but couldn't bring herself to eat any of it. She was thankful to see Parker accept a container of food even though the blond thief was still glaring at Jo. Hardison and Meg had their heads bent over his phone, soup sitting abandoned on the cheap plastic table. She was thankful that Hardison had a distraction now, it would keep the wisecracks to a minimum which meant Eliot's temper wouldn't get tested.

And Eliot, she glanced over to see him still sitting next to her but staring at Jo. She didn't have to have years of experience at reading people to know what was behind that look though, she had to admit, it was the first time she had seen it on Eliot's face. There were certain cases they took on that touched all them a little more than others and she knew of a couple that had affected Eliot on a deeper level. But never had she seen a look of absolute concern cloud over his features. She could chalk it up to him worrying over Nate but no, she knew better. She only hoped that he was aware of what was developing.

* * *

Jo was so thankful to see her mother appear in the sterile waiting area of the hospital. She knew her mother would show up but she was happy to see Amber and Meg had tagged along. She helped her mother pass out the food before settling down next to her nieces. With everything that had been happening, she felt out of touch with them.

"How was school today?"

Amber shrugged. "Okay. Nothing major to report."

"I got a B on my english report," Meg added. "And Kayla broke up with Simon because he was talking to Judy over IM last night. Nothing bad was said but it just pissed off Kayla."

Jo waited for more but Meg had become distracted by whatever Hardison was doing on his phone. She waited until Meg looked up at her and Jo smiled. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Meg scooted down a couple seats to where Hardison was sitting and it didn't take long until both of them were engrossed in a game.

Jo turned back to Amber. "You never did show me your dress."

"I can show you tonight. Is Mr. Ford going to be alright?"

"Eliot seems to think so but we're still waiting to hear from the doctor."

"Don't look now but Eliot is staring at you."

"Amber, we're not in high school."

She grinned, making her look so much like her father. "I am."

"But I'm not." Despite having no intention to check out Amber's statement, Jo cut her eyes over to where Eliot and Sophie were sitting. She stayed focused on Sophie but also noticed Amber was right, Eliot was looking at her and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"I think he's kind of cute." Amber still had that cheeky grin on her face.

"I think you should stick to boys your own age."

Amber tore off a piece of bread and popped it into her mouth. "You have to admit, your dating life sucks."

"I wasn't even aware I had a dating life." Jo fought a grin. This was the way Amber and her usually conversed. Jo saw her brother in Amber every now and then but mostly she saw herself: smart mouthed, confident and mischievous. All those things had been lost now except for in moments like these.

"Well, you don't have one, Aunt Jo. Hence the sucky part. Besides, my graduation party is two weeks away and I expect you to bring a date."

"Do you, now?"

Amber nodded. "Want me to ask him for you?"

"Want me to take your car from you your last week in high school?"

"I'll let you ask him then." Amber pointed behind Jo. "The doctor's here."

Jo stood up but was suddenly overcome with doubt. Nathan's team might not want her listening in to the diagnosis. Well, if they didn't want her there-

"Jo, come on."

She looked to her right so see Hardison waving her up to the group. She fell into place between Hardison and Eliot. She would have to thank Hardison later.

"Mr. Gallo is out of surgery and in the recovery room. He has three gunshot wounds but we were able to extract all the fragments. We'll be sending them over to the forensic lab so they'll be able to match the bullets with the gun used in the shooting. The first bullet went clean through his shoulder, the second one just grazed the side of his chest but the third one collapsed his right lung. We're going to need to keep him here for a few days to watch that lung and make sure pneumonia doesn't set in."

"When can we take him home?" Sophie asked.

"I would say about four to five days. If you have any questions, you can always ask the nurse on duty. If you'll excuse me, I have a few more patients from the shooting today."

They all nodded their thanks as the doctor moved off to another part of the waiting room. Four or five days and Nathan Ford and his team would leave Fitchburg. Jo didn't blame them, not in the least, but she felt the odd pinprick of disappointment. She would miss them and the seamless way they had started to blend themselves into her family.

Eliot came up beside her. "Why don't you go home with your mom and get some rest?"

"I think I will. Tomorrow's a work day, for me at least."

"7 to 7 shift, right?"

Jo started gathering up the empty soup containers. "I wouldn't worry about showing up, Eliot. Your team needs you now. I'll just tell everyone that you went back to Boston early."

"Yeah, I go back to Boston the day after Reilly is shot. It just wouldn't look right. Besides, you need a partner watching your back now more than ever."

"I don't think they would try anything with me this early. The way Reilly ran things, they'll be scrambling for a few days."

"Let's hope so."

Jo made sure they all had her number and promised they would call her if anything changed or if they needed something. She didn't want to admit it to anyone but she was happy to be going home, getting a hot shower and falling into bed. But when she walked outside the hospital and saw one of the department's squad cars sitting there, she became immediately suspicious. Her mother and the girls were standing by Amber's car, having an argument with one of the Sargents from her precinct. When she got closer she saw it was Brian Howard, Reilly's right hand man.

"Brian," Jo had to shout to be heard over her mother and Brian's argument. "What's going on here?"

He turned from her mother and gave her a razor blade smile. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"How's that?"

Brian held up a piece of paper. "I have a warrant for your arrest, Officer Wyatt."

Jo felt the blood drain from her head. "What? What for?"

"Let's see," Brian unfolded the paper. "Conspiracy to commit murder, hire of a contract killer, first degree murder-"

"You honestly think I put a hit on Chief Reilly? You're out of your mind, Brian."

Brian held up the warrant. "DA doesn't think I am."

Jo watched him pull out his handcuffs and take a step towards her. She pointed to her sling. "Really? You're going to cuff me with my arm in a sling?" Jo turned to her mother. "Mom, just take the girls home. I'll get this sorted out."

Her mother gave her a weak nod and started herding the girls into the car. Jo started walking back to Brian's squad car. She started to turn to say something to him when he shoved her into the car.

"Shut up, Wyatt."

Jo choked back a cry. Her face had connected with the roof of the car and she felt her nose break. If he wanted to play rough, so could she. Jo took a defensive stance but Brian had unlatched her sling, letting her arm drop before wrenching it behind her back. She bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood to keep from emitting a noise. She felt a couple stitches pop open.

"Is this resisting arrest, Office Wyatt?"

"More like police brutality," she shot back.

"Well, here comes my favorite part of this, Wyatt. You have the right to remain silent..."

She tuned him out as he rattled off the rest of the miranda rights. It was too late to contact her union rep or even a lawyer. She would have to spend the night in lock up. The only good thing was she didn't have to worry about Nathan's condition. He would be fine. She rested her head on the cool glass on the squad car and closed her eyes. So this was what rock bottom felt like.


	9. Past Allies

**Author's Note: **I forgot to say this last chapter...how awesome was the summer finale? I was bouncing off the walls at seeing Eliot play cop, in the cruiser and even answering a domestic call! That was just all full of awesome for me!

**The Blue Line Job**

**Chapter Nine: Past Allies**

Eliot stopped by the hospital on his way to pick up Jo the next morning. The nurses gave him free pass since he was in uniform. He figured Nate would be awake, even at 6 am in the morning, and he wasn't disappointed. Nate was propped up in bed, watching the news with a slightly fuzzy look in his eyes. Eliot was about to say something when Nate pointed at the TV.

"When did this happen?"

Eliot focused on the news report but could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"Officer Joella Wyatt has served on the Fitchburg Police Department for the last twelve years, following in her father's footsteps of thirty years of service. That all came to a crashing end yesterday afternoon when Officer Wyatt was arrested on charges of first degree murder for the contract killing of Chief Mark Reilly."

The TV shut off and Eliot turned to Nate. "That's the first I've heard of it. Susan never called us last night."

"She might be waiting to talk to you face to face when you go to pick up Jo. Has Bonanno checked in yet?"

Eliot shook his head. "No, he won't be here until later on this morning."

"Call Hardison and have him get all of Jo's phone, email and bank records for Bonanno. We have to get Jo out of that jail before they put her in with people she put away."

"I'll go down to the precinct right now and check on her. I can find enough paperwork to keep me close until Bonanno shows up."

"Eliot, you know the kind of people we're dealing with now. If Bonanno frees their scapegoat, they will kill her too. You're the one that's going to be on the front lines for the rest of this game." Nate took a deep breath. "You want to continue with the job?"

"Yeah, Nate, I'm going to bail with Jo sitting in jail with a contract murder charge hanging over her head." He pulled out the phone and started dialing Hardison's number since the hacker was most likely still asleep.

"And Eliot?"

The hitter paused in the doorway of Nate's room. "Yeah?"

"Go break a few noses."

Eliot gave him a nod. "Finally."

* * *

Jo woke up on the hard bench in the holding cell with a headache and a throbbing arm. One of the officers on night duty had enough of a conscience to get her a blanket. She sat up and tried stretching her muscles but everything hurt. She was grateful for a lack of mirrors, she was afraid to see what she looked like at the moment. The clock across from her said it was 7:00. Eliot would know by now what happened to her. She wondered if an arrest was a good enough reason to call the con off, as if they needed another excuse to pull out and go back to Boston. The mark was dead, their mastermind shot and in the hospital with a collapsed lung and she was set up the take the fall for the hit.

"Jo!"

She braced herself for Eliot to tell her they were pulling out. She tried to straighten her bloodied clothes and not look so weary. However, the look on Eliot's face as he came around the corner was enough to make her forget about where she was and put some fear into her. He looked like he was about to hurt someone.

"In here, Eliot." She took a deep breath and waited until he stopped in front of the cell. It didn't take him long to assess her condition.

"Why didn't you call us?" he whispered through the bars.

"They, uh, didn't exactly let me have my one phone call."

Eliot opened the file in his hand. "Which one of these sorry bastards is Brian Howard?"

"He's probably the one that is taking over as acting chief. He'll be moving into Reilly's office this morning. Hey," Jo reached through the bars and grabbed Eliot's arm before he moved off. "Don't make this worse."

"You asked us for help. I did everything you told me to do as your partner. Now, let me do what I do."

"Eliot-"

"You'll be out by noon. I won't leave the building and if anyone comes down here to move you, you scream bloody murder."

Jo nodded, released him and watched as he disappeared from the holding room and headed back upstairs. He didn't talk like the team was pulling out and going back to Boston. The thought of them not leaving after all the events that had occurred brought tears to her eyes. Friends and family had turned their back on her but these five strangers were sticking it out till the end. Jo rested her forehead on the cool bars and let herself cry.

"Hey," someone said, "there's no crying in lockup."

Jo snapped her head up to see Hardison walking into the holding cell, complete with doctor's bag. Eliot was following behind him. "What?"

"They didn't give you your phone call," Eliot said, "but they can't deny you a medical visit. Not with a broken nose and popped stitches."

Hardison opened the bag and pulled out an ice pack. "I had to drop off all your communication and bank records to hand over to Bonanno when he arrives. Once he sees there is no evidence of you contacting anyone, anyway, they have to let you go."

Jo pressed the ice pack against her nose. Better late than never, she supposed. "Brian said that the DA signed off on the warrant, that whatever evidence he had, the DA bought it."

"Yeah, a DA that's in the mob's pocket. We've got our own evidence," Hardison smiled. "There's a whole lot of people going down on this one."

"Don't tell Bonanno yet about the DA," Eliot added. "Sophie is going to go after Reilly's stepson today and try to get him to transfer Reilly's funds into our bank account so we can get your money back. Once that's done, we hand over all the dirt we have on the cops, lawyers, DA's and politicians to Bonanno."

Jo still couldn't believe it. "You're not giving up?"

Hardison actually recoiled. "Aw, hell no, she did not just say that."

"I told you, we keep our promises."

"Yes," Jo nodded. "You certainly do."

Hardison handed her a clean shirt. "I can't help with your stitches but at least we got a clean shirt for you. Eliot can take care of them when we get you out of here since he can't play doctor and cop. And," he also handed her a new sling, "we got this back for you."

"I am more than grateful." Jo was thankful she had worn a sleeveless shirt under the button down shirt that was bloody and wrinkled now. She would have loved a shower but she would take what she could get. She let Hardison clean up the popped stitches and redress them for Eliot to fix later before helping her into the clean shirt and sling.

"I called Bonnano," Eliot said, "and he's going to be here any minute. I told him to listen to Howard first and then have a private meeting with me."

"He agreed to that?"

Eliot shrugged. "He's an investigator."

Jo agreed. Bonanno would meet with anyone and everyone willing to talk. "If he wants to talk to me, what do I say?"

"Uh, the truth," Hardison answered.

"The truth about why you all here helping me?"

"Trust us," Eliot added. "You tell him Nathan Ford is here helping you and he won't ask any more questions."

"Alright."

Eliot's phone dinged and he pulled it out. "Text from Bonanno. He's here."

Hardison packed up the cleaning supplies he had brought with him. "We'll be seeing you later on today, have a big old dinner for you."

Jo gave Hardison his fist bump before he left the holding cell. Eliot gave her a more serious look.

"Anyone comes down here, you do what I told you to do. I'll be here in two seconds."

Jo nodded and Eliot left the basement again, taking Hardison with him. Jo sat back down on the hard bench but more comfortably this time since her arm was supported. After a few minutes though, her arm started to ache and the sling didn't feel quite right, almost like there was...something in it. She looked inside and pulled out a ziploc bag that had a donut and a travel packet of Ibuprofen. Sitting on the bench next to her was a bottle of water Hardison must have brought in with his bag. At least she would some food in her stomach and painkillers in her system when Bonnano came down to talk to her. Things were starting to look up.

* * *

Eliot made it to Jo's desk just in time for Bonanno to walk past and make eye contact. Bonanno gave him a brief nod before heading into the meeting with Howard. After the door closed, Eliot pulled out all the records that Hardison had dropped off to him. Everything was there, right down to her current bank account balance of $82.39. He put everything back in order and kept one hand on the folder so no one would swipe it.

"Hey, Turner."

Eliot looked up to see one of the younger police officers standing by his desk. His name tag read "O. Jacobson" and he couldn't remember if this kid was one of the good cops Jo had told him about or not. He didn't remember the name so he assumed he had been working for Reilly. "Hey."

"Guess that was a nasty shock for you, huh? Coming into work to find your partner locked up for killing the chief."

"Yeah," Eliot said, playing along. "I can't figure out why she did it though."

"Oh come on, you can't figure it out? I hope you're not thinking about going for detective." Jacobson leaned down. "People like Wyatt don't fit into this line of work. Too much tension, too physical type of work. Can't let your emotions get the better of you. You know?"

"People like Wyatt?" Eliot repeated. "Oh, you mean women."

"Yeah."

"What's that 'O' stand for on your name tag, Jacobson? Opie?"

Jacobson rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're one of those 'equal opportunity' guys. Women shouldn't be police officers. They can't handle it."

"And Fitchburg shouldn't have given you license to carry an armed weapon."

Eliot watched as Jacobson walked away, shaking his head. He wondered how many other idiots roamed the precinct and shuddered at the thought that if Jo ever needed back up, they were the ones that would show up. He rifled through papers and forms, attempting to look busy and ignoring the looks the other cops were giving him. He found he was actually relieved Jo was in lock up downstairs and not having to face her co-workers.

The chief's door opened and Bonanno emerged, shook hands with Howard and then meandered over to where Eliot was sitting. "Is she is downstairs?"

Eliot grabbed the folder and stood up. "Yeah. What's the evidence look like against her?"

Bonanno snorted. "A bank account print out with white out over the name. The same thing with the phone records. The DA is either a moron or part of the conspiracy. How's your boss?"

"Recovering. He's in room 412 at HeathAlliance if you want to see him."

"I planned on dropping in to see him. Thank him personally for what you all did for me a couple years ago."

"You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours." Eliot handed him the folder. "Here's all Jo's records for phone, cell phone, email and bank accounts. No evidence whatsoever that she hired a hit man for Reilly. In fact, we have more evidence to prove Reilly was a loan shark squeezing three other families here in Fitchburg. And Reilly wasn't even his real name."

Bonanno opened the folder and looked over it before heading into the basement holding room. "When I heard they picked up Jo for this I couldn't believe it. I've only worked with her a few times but when I did," he whistled, "she was fierce. I keep trying to recruit her for the state police."

Eliot shoved his hands in his pockets. "She's not so fierce right now."

"Well, let's fix that."

Eliot watched Bonanno's face as he took in Jo's appearance: arm in a sling, two black eyes and a swollen nose. She looked a little better since he last saw and realized she must have discovered the food, medicine and water Hardison had left behind. She smiled in greeting.

"Hi, Patrick."

"Hey, Jo." Bonanno pulled the key to the cell off the wall and opened the door. "Eliot's already given me all the evidence I need to get you out of here. The so called evidence they used to lock you up is a joke. So why don't you head home, take a hot shower and I'll stop by later to get your statement."

"Doesn't the DA need to drop the charges?" Jo asked.

"The DA needs to explain why they charged you in the first place," Bonnano replied. "Go home. I'm sure if you ask nicely, Eliot will drive you."

"Thank you."

"There is one more thing," Bonnano said. "Because of the ongoing investigation-"

Jo held up her hand. "I know. I'm suspended from the force until the case is closed."

"I'll make sure it's suspended with pay though. That's the least these idiots can do for you."

Jo shook Bonnano's hand and Eliot lead the way out of the holding cell. They flanked Jo as they left the precinct and Eliot was thankful for it given some of the looks Jo was getting. Eliot made sure he made direct eye contact with Howard and was rewarded with the other man looking away. When they stepped outside and said their good-byes to Bonnano, Eliot put his arm around Jo.

"You're in the homestretch, darling."


End file.
